Methods and systems for enhancing set-top box capabilities

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are disclosed herein for determining which of two multimedia devices to use to process a multimedia signal. A user may select a multimedia program from an interactive program guide. The first device will determine whether the multimedia specifications of the selected program exceed the capabilities of the first device. If so, the first device will transmit the multimedia signal to the second device without attempting to process it, and instruct the second device to process the signal and output the data obtained therefrom. If not, the first device will process the signal and transmit the multimedia data obtained from the signal to the second device for output.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/552,714, filed Aug. 31, 2017 (pending), which is hereby incorporatedby reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The amount of media available to users has grown tremendously in thelast few years. Media assets are available in many formats andresolutions, and are available from many different sources, includingbroadcast TV, cable TV, and through over-the top (OTT) Internetstreaming services (e.g., Netflix®, Hulu®, iTunes®, or other sources).As media formats change, older set-top boxes and other similar mediadevices may not be able to process the media they receive. This forcesusers to purchase expensive new hardware to replace their currentset-top boxes if they wish to access the more advanced media formats.Also, as new applications become available to launch using set-topboxes, the processing powers of the legacy set-top boxes may not sufficeto adequately execute such new applications. This introduces severe lagin accessing such new applications making the user experience lessenjoyable.

SUMMARY

A set-top box or other multimedia receiver may receive multimediasignals in a variety of formats and with a variety of multimediaspecifications. For example, some signals may contain standarddefinition video, while others contain high definition video. Forexample, some signals may include audio data with a high low samplingrate while other signals may contain audio data with a high samplingrate. A set-top box may also run multimedia applications such as an OTTInternet streaming applications. The system resources needed to run anOTT Internet streaming application may vary for each application. Aset-top box may not have all the capabilities necessary to processincoming multimedia signals, or run certain applications. If a set-topbox is not capable of processing the multimedia signal, or run aparticular application, a second device may be connected to the set-topbox which enhances, augments, or supplements the capabilities of theset-top box. The set-top box can then pass a multimedia signal thatexceeds its capabilities to the second device which has the capabilitiesnecessary to process the signal. If a multimedia application requiresmore available RAM than the set-top box can provide, the set-top box mayinstruct the second device to run the application.

The multimedia output of a set-top box or other multimedia signalreceiver is connected to the multimedia input of a second device. Theset-top box multimedia output is routed through the second devicedirectly to a display device, such as a TV, if the capabilities of theset-top box are suitable for the signal. If the capabilities of theset-top box are not suitable, the set-top box passes the multimediasignal to the second device and instructs the second device to processthe multimedia signal and output the processed signal to a display.

Methods and systems are disclosed herein for outputting multimedia datato a display generated from a multimedia signal having varyingmultimedia specifications. For example, a multimedia signal may have aset of multimedia specifications which may include video resolution,audio sampling rate, aspect ratio, or any other specification relatingto the audio or video properties of the multimedia data contained withinthe multimedia signal. The multimedia signal may be received at a firststand-alone device such as a set-top box or other television receiverfrom a cable or satellite television provider, terrestrial broadcast, orfrom an OTT Internet streaming service such as Netflix®, Hulu®,YouTube®, and the like.

The first stand-alone device may have different capabilities than asecond stand-alone device. For example, a set-top box may lack anInternet connection to receive media from streaming services, or may nothave sufficient memory capacity to download streaming media. Forexample, a set-top box may not have sufficient processing capabilitiesto decode higher resolution (e.g., HD video, and 4K) media assets. Asecond stand-alone device with greater capabilities may be connected tothe first stand-alone device to supplement its capabilities.

In some embodiments, the second stand-alone device is capable ofdecoding higher resolution videos than the first stand-alone device. Ifa user selects a high-resolution video, the signal may be passed to, andprocessed by, the second stand-alone device.

In some embodiments, the second stand-alone device is capable oflaunching an Internet video streaming application quickly and displayInternet streaming content with minimal lag time, while the firststand-alone device requires more time to launch the application, displayInternet streaming content with significant lag, or both. Use of thesecond stand-alone device allows the user to view streaming videocontent from Internet services more smoothly.

In some embodiments, the first stand-alone device may receive a userselection of a multimedia application. The first stand-alone device mayretrieve a set of capabilities of the first stand-alone device and a setof capabilities of the second stand-alone device, as well as a listingof multimedia applications available on the first stand-alone device anda list of multimedia application available on the second stand-alonedevice. The first stand-alone device may compare the capabilities andavailable multimedia applications to determine which device to use forlaunching the selected application. If the first stand-alone device isused, the application may be launched, the multimedia signal processed,and the multimedia data of the multimedia signal transmitted to thesecond stand-alone device for output. If the second stand-alone deviceis used, a command may be transmitted from the first stand-alone deviceto the second stand-alone device to launch the selected application.

In some embodiments, determining which device to use comprises measuringthe time needed to launch the selected application on each device todetermine which is faster.

In some embodiments, the second stand-alone device is responsive tovoice commands, while the first stand-alone device is responsive totraditional user input devices such as a remote control. Use of thesecond stand-alone device allows the user to control the multimediaexperience using voice commands.

In some embodiments, the first stand-alone device comprises a user inputdevice with a dedicated button associated with a customizable functionthat is customized to operate the second stand-alone device. The firststand-alone device may receive a user selection of the dedicated button,interpret a command associated with the customizable function and relaythe command to the second stand-alone device.

In some embodiments, the interpreted command comprises a command tolaunch a multimedia application that is not resident on the firststand-alone device.

In some embodiments, the second stand-alone device receives commandsfrom a user input device. The user input device may be an integratedcontrol panel, a remote control, a smartphone, or any other suitableuser input device. The second stand-alone device my also receivecommands from the first stand-alone device. These commands may be userinput commands that are received from a user input device associatedwith the first stand-alone device which are relayed to the secondstand-alone device, or they may be issued by the first stand-alonedevice without any user input.

In some embodiments, the first stand-alone device transmits the sourcemultimedia signal received by the first stand-alone device to the secondstand-alone device. The signal may be transmitted using a dataconnection or a multimedia connection.

In some embodiments, the first stand-alone device may receive and/orprocess a source multimedia signal with video data having one videoresolution, and the second stand-alone device may receive and process asource multimedia signal with video data have a second vide resolution.In some embodiments, the multimedia data of the two signals are combinedin a single picture-in-picture display, in which one video is overlaidon top of the other video.

In some embodiments, the second stand-alone device comprised a videodecoding engine to process the source multimedia signal. The decodingengine may output a processed video signal to the first input of amultiplexer. The multiplexer may be configured to receive multimediadata processed by the first stand-alone device as a second input. Theoutput of the multiplexer may be routed through the multimedia output ofthe second stand-alone device.

In some embodiments, the multiplexer may output the multimedia data ofone input and not the other. In some embodiments, the multiplexer mayreceive instructions to select one of the outputs for coupling with themultimedia output of the second stand-alone device.

In some embodiments, a media guidance application may reside on eitherthe first stand-alone device or the second stand-alone device. In someembodiments, a media guidance application may be distributed across boththe first stand-alone device and the second stand-alone device.

In some embodiments the second stand-alone device may receive multimediasignals from the first stand-alone device through a multimedia inputconnection such as HDMI, DVI, component, composite, or any othersuitable connection. The second stand-alone device may also receiveother types of signals from the first stand-alone device, such as userinput, through an input connection such as Ethernet, HDMI 1.4A (Ethernetover HDMI), radio, infrared, or any other suitable connection.

In some embodiments, the second stand-alone device may transmitmultimedia signals to a display. The display may be integral to thedevice, or may be externally connected (e.g., a TV) through any suitablemultimedia connection such as those listed above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative display screen that may be used to providemedia guidance data according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative display screen that may be used to providemedia guidance data according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment of a stand-alone device accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a specific implementation of user devices according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram representing the elements of a systemaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram representing the path of multimedia data andother data according to an aspect of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram representing the path of multimedia data andother data according to an aspect of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart representing a process of outputting themultimedia data according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart representing a process for receiving a sourcemultimedia signal at the first stand-alone device according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart representing a process for retrieving thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device according to an embodimentof the disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart representing a process for detecting multimediaspecifications of the source multimedia signal according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart representing a process for comparing thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device with the multimediaspecifications of the source multimedia signal according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart representing a process for determining whetherthe multimedia specifications of the source multimedia signal exceed thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device according to an embodimentof the disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart representing a process for transmitting thesource multimedia signal to the second stand-alone device according toan embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart representing a process for transmitting aprocessing command to the second stand-alone device according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart representing a process for processing the sourcemultimedia signal at the second stand-alone device according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart representing a process for processing the sourcemultimedia signal at the first stand-alone device according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart representing a process for transmittingmultimedia data of the source multimedia signal to the secondstand-alone device according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart representing a process for transmitting an outputcommand to the second stand-alone device according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart representing a process for outputting multimediadata from the second stand-alone device to a display according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram representing the elements of a systemaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram representing the path of multimedia data andother data according to an aspect of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram representing the path of multimedia data andother data according to an aspect of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart representing a process for outputting multimediadata according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart representing a process for retrieving thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device and a listing of multimediaapplications available on the first stand-alone device according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart representing a process for retrieving thecapabilities of the second stand-alone device and a listing ofmultimedia applications available on the second stand-alone deviceaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart representing a process for receiving a userselection associated with a multimedia application according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart representing a process for comparing themultimedia applications available on the first stand-alone device withthe multimedia applications available on the second stand-alone deviceaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart representing a process for identifying multimediaapplications common to both the first stand-alone device and the secondstand-alone device according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart representing a process for determining is theuser selection is associated with a common multimedia applicationaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart representing a process for comparing thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device with the capabilities ofthe second stand-alone device according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart representing a process for determining whetherthe capabilities of the second stand-alone device exceed thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device according to an embodimentof the disclosure.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart representing a process for transmitting a launchcommand to the second stand-alone device according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 34 is a flowchart representing a process for launching a multimediaapplication using the second stand-alone device according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 35 is a flowchart representing a process for launching a multimediaapplication using the first stand-alone device according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 36 is a flowchart representing a process for transmittingmultimedia data to the second stand-alone device according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 37 is a flowchart representing a process for transmitting an outputcommand to the second stand-alone device according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 38 is a flowchart representing a process for outputting multimediadata from the second stand-alone device to a display according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 39 is a block diagram representing the path of multimedia dataaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 40 is a block diagram representing the path of multimedia dataaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 41 is a block diagram representing the path of multimedia dataaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 1-2 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 100arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 104, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 106, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 102 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 108, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 110. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 110 may be provided inprogram information region 112. Region 112 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g., FTP).

Some non-linear programming is provided by OTT applications. If an OTTnon-linear program is selected from the interactive program guide, aset-top box may instruct a second device to launch the OTT applicationand access the selected program for output to a display. Other programsmay be accessible directly by the set-top box. Such programs may bereceived by the set-top box and routed through the second device fordisplay.

Grid 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 114, recorded content listing 116, andInternet content listing 118. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 100 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 102. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, and options region 126.Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 122 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 102. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applicationsthe user accesses, from other interactive applications the useraccesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.), and/orobtain information about the user from other sources that the mediaguidance application may access. As a result, a user can be providedwith a unified guidance application experience across the user'sdifferent user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 4. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2. Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 200, television listings option 204 isselected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 200 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 208 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 214 and text portion 216.Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 islarger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4.User equipment device 300 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 304, which includesprocessing circuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 302. I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry 304 (andspecifically processing circuitry 306) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 304 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 304 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 thatis part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 308 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 4, may be used to supplementstorage 308 or instead of storage 308.

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 308.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using user inputinterface 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 312 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300. For example, display 312 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 310may be integrated with or combined with display 312. Display 312 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 312 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 312.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry304. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 304.Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 312 may be played throughspeakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers314.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage308), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 304 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 308 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 304 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 310. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 310 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 300. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 304 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 304) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 300. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 300.Equipment device 300 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 310 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 300 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 310.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 300 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 3 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or awireless user communications device 406. For example, user televisionequipment 402 may, like some user computer equipment 404, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 404 may, like some television equipment 402, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 404, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 406.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communicationsdevice 406) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.Tivo.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, andwireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively.Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 412 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is awireless path and paths 408 and 410 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired).

Communications with the user equipment devices may be provided by one ormore of these communications paths, but are shown as a single path inFIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes content source 416 and media guidance data source418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410,and 412. Communications with the content source 416 and media guidancedata source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 416 and 418 withuser equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 are shown as throughcommunications network 414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

Content source 416 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 416 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 416 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 416 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 418may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 418 mayprovide user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 308, and executedby control circuitry 304 of a user equipment device 300. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 418) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 418), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 418 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE®, NETFLIX®, and HULU®, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. YouTube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 414.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 416 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 402 and user computer equipment 404may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 406 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 414. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 416 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 418. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wirelessuser communications device 406. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 404 or wireless usercommunications device 406 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 404. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 414. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 3.

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

The block diagram in FIG. 5 represents one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. First stand-alone device 502 may be a set-top box or othertelevision or multimedia signal receiver and may include a multimediainput 506 at which the first stand-alone device 502 may receive a sourcemultimedia signal such as a cable television signal, control circuitry508, a multimedia output 510, and a data port 512. In someimplementations, control circuitry 508 may be based on control circuitry304. The multimedia input 506 may include a coaxial cable connector,component input jacks, composite input jacks, an HDMI connector, or anyother suitable multimedia signal input connection. Similarly, themultimedia output 510 may include any of the above types of connectionsor any other suitable multimedia output connection. The data port 512may include an Ethernet connecter, a USB connector, or a connector forany other type of cable suitable for transmitting data between devices.In some embodiments, the multimedia output 510 and the data port 512 areelectronic components coupled to a single physical output connector,such as an HDMI connector compatible with HDMI 1.4 (Ethernet over HDMI).

Second stand-alone device 504 similarly includes a multimedia input 514and a data port 516. Multimedia input 514 may include any type ofconnection listed above in relation to multimedia output 510. Data port516 may include any type of connection listed above in relation to dataport 512. Multimedia input 514 and data port 516 may also be electroniccomponents coupled to a single physical input connector, such as an HDMIconnector compatible with HDMI 1.4 (Ethernet over HDMI). Secondstand-alone device 504 further includes control circuitry 518 andmultimedia output 520. In some implementations, control circuitry 518may be based on control circuitry 304. Multimedia output 520 may includeany type of connection listed above in relation to multimedia output510.

In the first stand-alone device, multimedia input 506 is coupled tocontrol circuitry 508. A source multimedia signal is received by thefirst stand-alone device at multimedia input 506 and may originate fromany suitable source including, but not limited to, terrestrial broadcasttelevision, cable television, and satellite television. The sourcemultimedia signal may be in any format suitable for transmission ofmultimedia data, including but not limited to, UHF or VHF radio signals,MPEG-2 transport streams, and MPEG-4 transport streams. Controlcircuitry 508 is configured to detect multimedia specifications of thesource multimedia signal received at multimedia input 506, and processthe source multimedia signal to obtain multimedia data thereof if themultimedia specifications of the source multimedia signal do not exceedthe capabilities of the first stand-alone device 502. For example,control circuitry 508 may obtain data relating to the multimediaspecifications of the multimedia signal from interactive program guidelistings data. Specifically, the interactive program guide data may beconfigured to include multimedia specifications for each program. Inresponse to user selection of a program listing from the interactiveprogram guide, control circuitry 508 may retrieve the multimediaspecification information for the selected program from the programlisting data. Control circuitry 508 may also retrieve known multimediaspecifications from a database. Specifically, control circuitry 508 mayreceive a program identifier in response to a user selection of aprogram from the interactive program guide. Control circuitry 508 maythen access a database containing multimedia specifications for eachprogram. Using the program identifier received from the interactiveprogram guide, the control circuitry 508 may look up the identifiedprogram and retrieve the multimedia specifications for that program. Thedatabase may be stored locally within memory (e.g., storage 308), or maybe stored remotely, such as on a server (e.g., media guidance datasource 418).

Alternatively, control circuitry 508 may analyze data packets within themultimedia signal relating to the multimedia specifications of thesignal. Specifically, the multimedia signal may contain control packetsor other data structures containing metadata relating to the multimediaspecifications of the multimedia data contained within the multimediasignal. For example, the first stand-alone device 502 may receive asignal encapsulated in an MPEG-2 transport stream. MPEG-2 is aninternational standard and the transport stream structure therefor isdefined in ISO/IEC 13818-1. An exemplary MPEG-2 transport stream iscomposed of packets 188 bytes in length. The first several bytes of eachpacket comprise a header region. The header region contains controlinformation and metadata regarding the type of media data contained inthe remainder of the packet, referred to as the payload. The controlinformation and metadata may include flags relating to the multimediaspecifications of the media within the payload. Additionally, the ATSCstandard for broadcast television signals requires additionalinformation about the programs contained within an MPEG-2 transportstream to be included using the Program Specific Information Protocol,defined in ATSC A/69. Some of the data structures required by the PSIPmay include information relating to the multimedia specifications ofeach program contained within the MPEG-2 transport stream. Controlcircuitry 508 may be configured to access any of such packets or datastructures, or any other suitable packets or data structures to extractthe multimedia specifications. Alternatively, multimedia specificationsmay be located in a header portion of at least some of the multimediadata packets contained within the multimedia signal. The payload of anMPEG-2 transport stream may contain an entire packet of media in adifferent transport format, such as MPEG-4. MPEG-4 is an internationalstandard and the format therefor is defined in ISO/IEC 14496-1. MPEG-4streams include descriptor streams which provide data about the mediacontained in the stream. One item included in the descriptor stream isan initial object descriptor. The initial object descriptor includes,among other things, information relating to the audio and video profilesneeded to process the media data. Control circuitry 508 may beconfigured to access this data without processing the multimedia datacontained within the packets in order to retrieve the multimediaspecifications contained therein.

Control circuitry 508 is further coupled to multimedia output 510 totransmit the multimedia data to the second stand-alone device 504, anddata port 512 to transmit a command to the second stand-alone device 504to output the multimedia data. If the multimedia specifications of thesource multimedia signal do exceed the capabilities of the firststand-alone device 502, the control circuitry 508 is further configuredto forego processing of the source multimedia signal and transmit theunprocessed source multimedia signal via the data port 512 to the secondstand-alone device 504, along with a command to process the sourcemultimedia signal. The unprocessed source multimedia signal may be theraw modulated signal as received a multimedia input 506, or may be dataobtained from the tuned channel. Data obtained from the tuned channelmay be, for example, an MPEG-4 transport stream obtained from the tunedchannel by the first stand-alone device 502, or may be partially decodedmultimedia data from the tuned channel (e.g., decoded audio data andencoded video data). In some embodiments, the unprocessed multimediasignal is transmitted from the multimedia output 510 to the secondstand-alone device 504, while the processing command is transmitted viathe data port 512.

In the second stand-alone device, multimedia input 514 and data port 516are coupled to control circuitry 518. Control circuitry 518 is furthercoupled to multimedia output 520. Additionally, multimedia input 514 isdirectly coupled to multimedia output 520. If the second stand-alonedevice 504 receives a command at data port 516 from data port 512 of thefirst stand-alone device 502 to output multimedia data processed by thefirst stand-alone device 502 and transmitted from multimedia output 510to multimedia input 514, control circuitry 518 is configured to directmultimedia input 514 to transmit multimedia data directly to multimediaoutput 520. Second stand-alone device 504 may also include a multiplexermodule or other similar module which may accept multiple multimedia datastreams as input. The multiplexer may be implemented in software,firmware, or hardware, and may be part of control circuitry 518 ormultimedia output 520, or may be a separate component. Processedmultimedia data that is ready for output may be routed through themultiplexer. Based on instructions received from control circuitry 518,the multiplexer may output a first multimedia data stream or a secondmultimedia data stream, of a combination thereof. For example, themultiplexer may receive multimedia data processed by the firststand-alone device as a first multimedia data stream, and multimediadata processed by the second stand-alone device as a second multimediadata stream. The control circuitry 518 may, automatically or in responseto a user command, instruct the multiplexer to output only the firstmultimedia data stream. The control circuitry 518 may generate apicture-in-picture output by combining one multimedia data stream withan overlay or side-by-side display of another multimedia data stream.

The block diagram in FIG. 6 shows an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure wherein the multimedia specifications of the sourcemultimedia signal exceed the capabilities of the first stand-alonedevice 502. The source multimedia signal 602 is received at multimediainput 506. The source multimedia signal 602 is communicated to controlcircuitry 508 where the multimedia specifications are analyzed andcompared to the capabilities of the first stand-alone device 502. Whenthe control circuitry 508 determines that the multimedia specificationsexceed the capabilities of the first stand-alone device 502, the controlcircuitry 508 communicates the source multimedia signal 602 in anunprocessed form to data port 512, as well as a command for the secondstand-alone device 504 to process the source multimedia signal. Forexample, the control circuitry 508 does not perform any processingoperations on the source multimedia signal 602 and allows the sourcemultimedia signal 602 to pass through control circuitry 508 to beoutput. The unprocessed source multimedia signal 604 is thus unchangedfrom the source multimedia signal 602. Alternatively, if the sourcemultimedia signal encapsulates another media stream (e.g., the sourcemultimedia signal is an MPEG-2 transport stream that encapsulates anMPEG-4 stream), control circuitry 508 may extract the media streampackets from the source multimedia signal and transmit those packets tothe second stand-alone device, thus reducing the amount of datatransmitted between the first and second stand-alone devices and,consequently, reducing the time and processing power needed for thesecond stand-alone device to process the multimedia signal. Theunprocessed source multimedia signal 604 is transmitted, along with theprocessing command 606 to data port 516 of the second stand-alone device504.

The unprocessed source multimedia signal 604 and the processing command606 are received by the second stand-alone device 504 at data port 516,and are communicated to control circuitry 518. Control circuitry 518 isconfigured to process the source multimedia signal to obtain multimediadata. Processing may be achieved by accessing and extracting themultimedia data contained within the source multimedia signal. As anexample, the source multimedia signal may be an MPEG-2 transport streamencapsulating an MPEG-4 transport stream, which further encapsulates avideo elementary stream and an audio elementary stream. Controlcircuitry 518 accesses the proper packets from the MPEG-2 stream byconsulting the program map table contained in the MPEG-2 stream metadata(as defined in the ISO/IEC standard). The program map table informs thecontrol circuitry which packets belong to a particular program. Usingthis information, MPEG-2 decoding logic within the control circuitry 518obtain the MPEG-4 packets relating to the selected program. Controlcircuitry 518 then accesses the MPEG-4 metadata to identify the packetsbelonging to the video elementary stream and the audio elementarystream. Using this information, the proper packets are extracted and thedata contained therein routed through video and audio decoding engines,resulting in processed multimedia data that is ready to be output. Insome cases, the first stand-alone device 502 may possess the multimediacapabilities necessary to process the video or audio data, but not both.The first stand-alone device 502 would then transmit, for example, theprocessed audio data and the unprocessed video data to the secondstand-alone device 504. Control circuitry 518 then processes the videodata as above. In any case, once all multimedia data of the selectedprogram have been processed, control circuitry 518 is configured totransmit the multimedia data to multimedia output 520.

The block diagram in FIG. 7 shows another aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure wherein the multimedia specifications of the sourcemultimedia signal 602 do not exceed the capabilities of the firststand-alone device 502. The source multimedia signal 602 is received atmultimedia input 506 and communicated to control circuitry 508. Controlcircuitry 508 is configured to process the source multimedia signal 602to obtain multimedia data 702, and transmit the multimedia data 702 tomultimedia output 510. Control circuitry 508 also communicates a command704 to output the multimedia data without any further processing to dataport 512 to transmit to the second stand-alone device 504.

The second stand-alone device 504 receives the multimedia data 702 atmultimedia input 514, and the output command 704 at data port 516.Output command 704 is communicated to control circuitry 518. Uponreceiving the output command, control circuitry 518 instructs multimediainput 514 to transmit the multimedia data 702 directly to multimediaoutput 520.

The flowchart in FIG. 8 describes the overall process of an embodimentof the present disclosure to output multimedia data. At step 802, thefirst stand-alone device receives a source multimedia signal (e.g.,source multimedia signal 602). For example, first stand-alone device 502may receive a multimedia signal from a television channel from a server.At step 804, the control circuitry of the first stand-alone device(e.g., control circuitry 508) retrieves a first set of capabilities ofthe first stand-alone device. The capabilities may include maximumdecodable video resolution, maximum decodable audio sampling rate, videoaspect ratio, closed caption ability, subtitle ability, SAP ability,available decoder engine (discussed further below), or any othercapability relating to the output of multimedia data. A configurationfile or other suitable data structure detailing the capabilities of thefirst stand-alone device 502 may be stored at a predefined memorylocation within a memory storage (e.g., storage 308), and may beaccessed by control circuitry 508. Control circuitry 508 may copy theentirety of the configuration file to a RAM buffer or other volatile ornon-volatile memory, or may extract specific data from the configurationfile, such as data detailing the maximum value for each multimediaproperty to be found in the multimedia specifications. At step 806,control circuitry 508 detects the multimedia specifications of thereceived source multimedia signal. This may be accomplished in severalways. For example, the control circuitry 508 may directly analyze thevideo or audio properties of the multimedia signal, or control circuitry508 may be configured to access control packets or data structureswithin the multimedia signal containing metadata to extract themultimedia specifications, for example, in an MPEG-2 transport stream asdescribed above, or PSIP data contained therein. Alternatively,multimedia specifications may be located in a header portion of at leastsome of the multimedia data packets contained within the multimediasignal, for example, headers in an MPEG-4 stream encapsulated within anMEPG-2 transport stream as described above. Control circuitry 508 may beconfigured to access the data located in the header portion withoutprocessing the multimedia data contained within a body portion of thepackets in order to retrieve the multimedia specifications containedtherein. In another example, the control circuitry 508 may obtain themultimedia specifications from program listing data in the interactiveprogram guide in response to user selection of a program. Specifically,the interactive program guide data may be configured to includemultimedia specifications for each program. In response to userselection of a program from the interactive program guide, controlcircuitry 508 may retrieve the multimedia specification information forthe selected program from the program listing data. Multimediaspecification information may include video resolution, audio samplingrate, aspect ratio, availability of closed captions, availability of asecondary audio channel in accordance with SAP, and any other multimediaproperties. Control circuitry 508 may also retrieve known multimediaspecifications from a database, which may be stored locally or on aremote server. Specifically, control circuitry 508 may receive a programidentifier in response to a user selection of a program from theinteractive program guide. Control circuitry 508 may then access adatabase containing multimedia specifications for each program and lookup the identified program to retrieve the multimedia specifications forthat program. At step 808, the control circuitry 508 compares thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device with the multimediaspecifications of the multimedia data contained in the source multimediasignal to determine if the specifications exceed the capabilities of thefirst stand-alone device. To do this, the control circuitry 508 comparesthe multimedia specifications obtained at step 806 to capabilitiesretrieved in step 804. For example, the control circuitry 508 maycompare a value in the configuration data relating to video resolutionto a video resolution property of the multimedia signal found in themultimedia specifications. If the value of the property found in themultimedia specifications is higher than the value listed in theconfiguration data by a certain threshold amount, the control circuitry508 will set a flag or Boolean value to note that at least one propertyof the multimedia specifications exceeds the capabilities of the firststand-alone device 502. At step 810, if, after comparing each propertyof the multimedia specifications to the configuration data, none of theproperty values exceeds the threshold for their respective capabilityvalues found in the configuration data, the control circuitry 508 willproceed to process the multimedia signal at step 818, which is furtherdiscussed below. If the capabilities of the first stand-alone device areexceeded, then, at step 812, the first stand-alone device 502 transmitsthe source multimedia signal and, at step 814, a command to process thesource multimedia signal to the second stand-alone device 504. At step816, the control circuitry of the second stand-alone device (e.g.,control circuitry 518) processes the source multimedia signal to obtainmultimedia data, and the multimedia data is output to a display at step824.

If the capabilities of the first stand-alone device are not exceeded,then, at step 818, the control circuitry 508 of the first stand-alonedevice 502 processes the source multimedia signal to obtain multimediadata. At step 820, the first stand-alone device transmits the multimediadata and, at step 822, a command to output the multimedia data to thesecond stand-alone device 504. Finally, at step 824, the multimedia datais output to a display by the second stand-alone device 504.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 8 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 9 describes a process 900 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)to receive a source multimedia signal in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. At step 902, the source multimedia signalis received at a multimedia input (e.g., multimedia input 506). Thesource multimedia signal may be received from a terrestrial televisionbroadcast, a cable television media service provider, or any othersuitable type of media content provider. At step 904, the receivedsource multimedia signal is communicated to control circuitry 508 foranalysis and processing.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 9 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 10 describes a process 1000 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)to retrieve a set of capabilities of the first stand-alone device 502.At step 1002, control circuitry 508 may access a predefined memorylocation in a memory storage device (e.g., storage 308). The predefinedmemory location may contain a configuration file or other data structurecontaining data relating to the multimedia capabilities and systemresources of the first stand-alone device. At step 1004, controlcircuitry 508 may retrieve the data stored in the predefined memorylocation. This can be accomplished in several ways. For example, controlcircuitry 508 may copy in its entirety the data stored in the predefinedmemory location, and store the copied data in a RAM buffer or othervolatile or non-volatile memory. However, the data stored in thepredefined memory location may include additional data that is notrelevant to the multimedia capabilities of the first stand-alone device.Control circuitry 508 may therefore parse the configuration data andextract only those data relevant to the multimedia capabilities of thefirst stand-alone device, such as maximum decodable video resolution,maximum decodable audio sampling rate, closed-captioning ability,subtitle ability, SAP processing ability, available RAM, or availableprocessing speed.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 10 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 11 describes a process 1100 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)to detect the multimedia specifications of the multimedia data containedin the source multimedia signal. At step 1102, the control circuitry 508receives the source multimedia signal from the multimedia input 506. Atstep 1104, control circuitry 508 analyzes and extracts the multimediaspecifications from the source multimedia signal. As described above,this may be accomplished in several ways. For example, control circuitry508 may access packet headers within the multimedia data, or metadatawithin an encapsulating transport stream. Control circuitry 508 may alsoaccess a database of known multimedia specifications for each program,or may retrieve such data from program guide data.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 11 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 12 describes a process 1200 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)to compare the capabilities of the first stand-alone device with themultimedia specifications of the multimedia data contained in the sourcemultimedia signal in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.At step 1202, control circuitry 508 initializes a set of Booleanvariables, one for each property of the multimedia specifications, andsets the value of each variable to FALSE. As an example, steps 1204 and1206 compare the video resolution property and audio sampling rateproperty of the multimedia specifications respectively with thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device. If either property exceedsthe capabilities of the first stand-alone device by a certain thresholdamount then, at step 1208, the value of the corresponding Booleanvariable is set to TRUE. This process is performed for each property ofthe multimedia specifications.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 12 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 13 describes a process 1300 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)to determine whether the multimedia specifications of the sourcemultimedia signal exceed the capabilities of the first stand-alonedevice in accordance with some embodiments of the invention. At step1302, control circuitry 508 compiles the Boolean variable initialized instep 1202. At step 1304, control circuitry checks the value of eachBoolean variable. If any one Boolean variable is found to have a valueof TRUE, the multimedia specifications of the multimedia data containedin the source multimedia signal are determined to exceed thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device, and control circuitry 508proceeds to step 812, described below in relation to FIG. 14. If all theBoolean variables have a value of FALSE, then the first stand-alonedevice capabilities meet or exceed the multimedia specifications of themultimedia data contained in the source multimedia signal, and controlcircuitry 508 proceeds to step 818, discussed below in relation to FIG.17.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 13 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 14 describes a process 1400 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)to transmit the source multimedia signal to the second stand-alonedevice 504 in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Atstep 1402, control circuitry 508 communicates the source multimediasignal to the multimedia output 510 of the first stand-alone device 502.Alternatively, if the source multimedia signal is an MPEG-2 transportstream, and if the control circuitry is configured to isolate a givenmultimedia stream encapsulated therein, control circuitry 508 maycommunicate the isolated multimedia stream to the multimedia output 510.At step 1404, multimedia output 510 transmits the multimedia signal tothe multimedia input 514 of the second stand-alone device 504.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 14 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 15 describes a process 1500 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)to transmit a processing command to the second stand-alone device 504 inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. At step 1502,control circuitry 508 generates a command to process the sourcemultimedia signal to obtain the multimedia data contained therein. Atstep 1504, control circuitry 508 communicates the processing command tothe data port 512. At step 1506, the processing command is transmittedto the data port 516 of the second stand-alone device 504.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 15 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 16 describes a process 1600 implemented on controlcircuitry of the second stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 518)to process the source multimedia signal in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. At step 1602, the second stand-alonedevice 504 receives the multimedia signal at the multimedia input 514.In some cases, the first stand-alone device 502 may possess themultimedia capabilities necessary to process the video or audio data,but not both. The multimedia signal received at multimedia input 514would then comprise, for example, the processed audio data and theunprocessed video data to the second stand-alone device 504. Themultimedia signal is communicated to the control circuitry 518 of thesecond stand-alone device 504 for processing. At step 1604, the secondstand-alone device receives the processing command at the data port 516.The processing command is then communicated to the control circuitry 518of the second stand-alone device 504. At step 1606, the controlcircuitry 518 decodes the multimedia signal to obtain multimedia datacomposed of audio and video elementary streams. At step 1608, theelementary streams are decoded to obtain video data and audio data whichis suitable for output. In cases where the first stand-alone device 502is able to decode some data, the decoding performed at step 1608 issupplementary to that already performed by the first stand-alone device502. The decoding of video data may be accomplished using a decoderengine. A video decoder engine may be implemented in software or inhardware and may accomplish decoding by decompression of received videodata. Prior to broadcast, video data may be compressed to reduce theamount of data to be transmitted. Compression generally comprises areduction in signal sampling rate through discrete cosine transform orother appropriate transform function, followed by chrominancesubsampling (i.e., lowering the amount of chrominance informationincluded in the video data relative to the amount of luminanceinformation). Video decompression seeks to reverse these processes torestore the video to its original state. Different decoder engines mayuse different approaches to accomplish video restoration. This resultsin some decoder engine being more efficient, and some being moreaccurate in their decompression.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 16 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 17 describes a process 1700 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)to process the source multimedia signal in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. At step 1702, control circuitry 508 ofthe first stand-alone device 502 decodes the multimedia signal to obtainmultimedia data composed of elementary streams. At step 1704, theelementary streams are decoded to obtain video data and audio data whichis suitable for output. The decoding of video data may be accomplishedusing a decoder engine as described above.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 17 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 18 describes a process 1800 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)to transmit multimedia data to the second stand-alone device inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. At step 1802, thevideo data and audio data are communicated to the multimedia output 510.At step 1804, the video data and audio data are transmitted to themultimedia input 514 of the second stand-alone device 504.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 18 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 19 describes a process 1900 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)to transmit an output command to the second stand-alone device 504 inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. At step 1902,control circuitry 508 generates a command to output the received videodata and audio data without any further processing. At step 1904, theoutput command is communicated to the data port 512. At step 1906, theoutput command is transmitted from the data port 512 of the firststand-alone device 502 to the data port 516 of the second stand-alonedevice 504.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 19 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 20 describes a process 2000 implemented on controlcircuitry of the second stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 518)to output multimedia data in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. If the second stand-alone device receives a processingcommand, multimedia data processed by control circuitry 518 iscommunicated at step 2002 to the multimedia output 520 of the secondstand-alone device 504. If the second stand-alone device 504 receives anoutput command, multimedia data processed by control circuitry 508 ofthe first stand-alone device 502, having been received at multimediainput 514, is communicated directly from multimedia input 514 tomultimedia output 520 under direction from control circuitry 518responsive to the output command. The second stand-alone device 504 mayalso receive a source multimedia signal from another source, such as anInternet streaming multimedia application. Control circuitry 518 mayprocess a multimedia signal received from the first stand-alone deviceand a multimedia signal received from another source, such as andInternet streaming multimedia application, simultaneously. Themultimedia data from each source signal, whether processed by the firststand-alone device 502 or the second stand-alone device 504, may berouted through a multiplexer as separate inputs to the multiplexer. Themultiplexer may be part of control circuitry 518, multimedia output 520,or a separate component, and may be implemented in software, firmware,or hardware. The multiplexer may, automatically, or in response to auser command, output the multimedia data from one input, and not theother. At step 2004, the video and audio data are transmitted from themultimedia output 520 to a display.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 20 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

Second stand-alone device 504 may also output a picture-in-picture (PIP)display of multimedia data from more than one source multimedia signalsimultaneously. As discussed above, the second stand-alone device 504may include a video editing module, implemented in software, firmware,or hardware, that is capable of combining multiple multimedia streamsinto a single output in PIP format. A PIP display may be an insetdisplay overlaid on a main display. A user may choose a position of thePIP inset display using a user interface device. Alternatively, a PIPdisplay may be side-by-side with a main display in either a verticallyor horizontally split screen. A user may choose, using a user interfacedevice, which signal is displayed in the main display, and which signalis displayed in the PIP display.

For example, the first stand-alone device 502 may process a sourcemultimedia signal and transmit the multimedia data obtained therefrom tothe second stand-alone device, along with an output command. Secondstand-alone device 504, in response to the output command, may route themultimedia data through the multiplexer prior as a first input. At thesame time, the second stand-alone device 504 may process a multimediasignal from another source such as an Internet streaming multimediaapplication. The multimedia data obtained therefrom may also be routedthrough the multiplexer as a second input. Automatically, or responsiveto a user input, the multiplexer may be instructed to output one of theinputs and not the other. A user input command may be received to togglethe multiplexer between outputting the first input and the second input.A user input command may also be received instructing the controlcircuitry to combine the two inputs using a PIP display. The controlcircuitry may automatically, or in response to a user input command,determine which input to display as the main display and which input todisplay as the PIP display. A user input command may also be used totoggle the control circuitry between outputting the first input as themain display with the second input as the PIP display and the secondinput as the main display with the first input as the PIP display. If achannel change command is received from a user input device by the firststand-alone device 502, the second stand-alone device 504 continues toroute the multimedia data received from the first stand-alone devicethrough the multiplexer, and does not affect which input is displayed inthe PIP display. In this way, the user may change the channel in eitherthe main display or the PIP display without affecting the other display.

The user input device may also include a button or command sequence todetermine which of the main and PIP displays is affected by the channelchange operations. In one embodiment, the second stand-alone device 504records which input is being displayed in the main display and which isbeing displayed in the PIP display. The user interface device may have adedicated PIP control button that, while depressed, allows the user tocontrol the source of the media being displayed in the PIP window.Depressing the PIP control may transmit a command to the firststand-alone device that the commands that follow are intended to controlthe PIP window. Alternatively, depressing the PIP control may prepend aPIP control code to any command issued by the user interface devicewhile the PIP control is depressed.

When the first stand-alone device 502 receives a user input commandintended to control the PIP window, the first stand-alone device 502may, through data port 512, query the second stand-alone device todetermine the source of the multimedia data in both the main and PIPdisplays. The second stand-alone device 504 may provide a response, viadata port 516, to the first stand-alone device 502. Based on theresponse, the first stand-alone device directs the user input commandsto the proper control circuitry, either directly to control circuitry508 or, via data port 512, to control circuitry 518 of the secondstand-alone device.

As another example, the first stand-alone device 502 may transmit thesource multimedia signal to the second stand-alone device 504 forprocessing. Second stand-alone device 504 may then process the sourcemultimedia signal received from first stand-alone device 502 andsimultaneously process another source multimedia signal from anothersource such as an Internet streaming multimedia application. Themultimedia data of both signals are routed separately to the multiplexeras separate inputs to the multiplexer. Automatically, or responsive to auser input command, the multiplexer may be instructed to output one ofthe inputs and not the other. A user input command may be received totoggle the multiplexer between outputting the first input and the secondinput. A user input command may also be received instructing the controlcircuitry to combine the two inputs using a PIP display. The controlcircuitry may automatically, or in response to a user input command,determine which input to display as the main display and which input todisplay as the PIP display. A user input command may also be used totoggle the control circuitry between outputting the first input as themain display with the second input as the PIP display, and the secondinput as the main display with the first input as the PIP display.

In another example, the first stand-alone device 502 hosts theinteractive program guide application. When the user selects theinteractive program guide, the video and graphics data associated withthe interactive program guide are transmitted to the second stand-alonedevice 504. Second stand-alone device 504 routes the interactive programguide video and graphics data to the multiplexer as a first input.Meanwhile the second stand-alone device processes a source multimediasignal from another source, such as an Internet streaming multimediaapplication. The multimedia data obtained from the Internet streamingmultimedia application is routed to the multiplexer as a second input.Automatically, or responsive to a user input command, the multiplexermay be instructed to output one of the inputs and not the other. A userinput command may be received to toggle the multiplexer betweenoutputting the first input and the second input. A user input commandmay also be received instructing the control circuitry to combine thetwo inputs using a PIP display. The control circuitry may automatically,or in response to a user input command, determine which input to displayas the main display and which input to display as the PIP display. Auser input command may also be used to toggle the control circuitrybetween outputting the first input as the main display with the secondinput as the PIP display, and the second input as the main display withthe first input as the PIP display.

In another example, the first stand-alone device 502 receives a sourcemultimedia signal and determines through, for example, the processesdescribed above, that the multimedia specifications of the sourcemultimedia signal do not exceed the capabilities of the firststand-alone device 502. First stand-alone device 502 also receives auser input command to exclusively process multimedia signals using thesecond stand-alone device 504. In response to the user command, firststand-alone device 502 foregoes processing the source multimedia signaland transmits the source multimedia signal and a processing command tothe second stand-alone device 504, as described above. Secondstand-alone device 504 may also simultaneously receive a sourcemultimedia signal from another source such as an Internet streamingmultimedia application. Second stand alone device 504 processes bothsignals and routes the multimedia data from each signal separately tothe multiplexer as different inputs. Automatically, or responsive to auser input command, the multiplexer may be instructed to output one ofthe inputs and not the other. A user input command may be received totoggle the multiplexer between outputting the first input and the secondinput. A user input command may also be received instructing the controlcircuitry to combine the two inputs using a PIP display. The controlcircuitry may automatically, or in response to a user input command,determine which input to display as the main display and which input todisplay as the PIP display. A user input command may also be used totoggle the control circuitry between outputting the first input as themain display with the second input as the PIP display, and the secondinput as the main display with the first input as the PIP display.

The block diagram in FIG. 21 represents another embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The first stand-alone device 502 includes a memory2102 containing a set of multimedia applications, such as Netflix®,Hulu® and YouTube®. Memory 2102 may be implemented by storage 308.Memory 2102 is coupled to control circuitry 508. Control circuitry 508is further coupled to multimedia output 510 and data port 512. As above,multimedia output 510 may include any suitable multimedia connection,data port 512 may include any suitable data connection, and multimediaoutput 510 and data port 512 may be electronic components connected to asingle physical connection. The first stand-alone device 502 alsoincludes a user input receiver 2104, which may be an infrared receivermodule, Bluetooth module, wi-fi module, RF module, or any othercommunication module suitable for use in receiving user input from auser input device such as a remote control. The control circuitry 508 isconfigured to receive a user selection of one of the set of multimediaapplications resident in memory 2102 from user input receiver 2104, andto determine the capabilities necessary to run the selected application.For example, the control circuitry 508 may compare the recommendedamount of random access memory (RAM) for running the selectedapplication to the amount of RAM present on the first stand-alone device502. Control circuitry 508 may also compare recommended video resolutionor other multimedia specifications of the selected application to thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device. Control circuitry 508 isalso further configured to detect the capabilities of the secondstand-alone device 504 and the multimedia applications resident inmemory 2106 of the second stand-alone device, for example by requestingthe configuration data and an application manifest of the secondstand-alone device 504 via a data request sent from data port 512 todata port 516, and receiving a list of capabilities from the secondstand-alone device 504 via a response from data port 516 to data port512. Control circuitry 508 may then compare the recommended amount ofRAM for running the selected application to the amount of RAM present onthe second stand-alone device 504, and may also compare the recommendedvideo resolution or other multimedia specifications of the selectedapplication to the capabilities of the second stand-alone device 504detailed in the received configuration data. Control circuitry 508 mayalso record the amount of time taken by the first stand-alone device 502to launch the selected application and store that information with theconfiguration data. Second stand-alone device 504 may also recordsimilar information. Control circuitry 508 may then compare the launchtime of the first stand-alone device 502 to the launch time of thesecond stand-alone device 504, with a shorter launch time beingpreferable. If control circuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device 502determines through these comparisons that the capabilities of the secondstand-alone device 504 are closer to or exceed the recommendedspecifications for running the selected application or that the secondstand-alone device has a shorter launch time for the selectedapplication, and that the selected application is resident in memory2106 of the second stand-alone device, control circuitry 508 isconfigured to transmit a command via data port 512 to the secondstand-alone device 504 to launch the selected application.

Second stand-alone device 504 includes multimedia input 514 and dataport 516. As above, multimedia input 514 may include any suitablemultimedia connection, data port 516 may include any suitable dataconnection, and multimedia input 514 and data port 516 may be electroniccomponents connected to a single physical connection. Multimedia input514 and data port 516 are coupled to control circuitry 518, which isfurther coupled to memory 2106 and multimedia output 520. Memory 2106may be implemented by storage 308. Memory 2106 contains a set ofmultimedia applications, at least one of which is common to both memory2106 and memory 2102. For example, as shown in FIG. 21, memory 2102 andmemory 2106 both contain the Netflix® application.

In some embodiments, second stand-alone device 504 may also include auser input receiver 2108, allowing second stand-alone device 504 toreceiver user input directly. This may be in addition to or in place ofreceiving user input relayed by the first stand-alone device 502. Forexample, a remote control or other user input device may have adedicated button to control the second stand-alone device. Such userinput may be received directly by second stand-alone device 504 throughuser input receiver 2108. Second stand-alone device 504 may also includea multiplexer module or other similar module which may accept multiplemultimedia data streams as input. The multiplexer may be implemented insoftware, firmware, or hardware, and may be part of control circuitry518 or multimedia output 520, or may be a separate component. Processedmultimedia data that is ready for output may be routed through themultiplexer. Based on instructions received from control circuitry 518,the multiplexer may output a first multimedia data stream or a secondmultimedia data stream, of a combination thereof. For example, themultiplexer may receive multimedia data processed by the firststand-alone device as a first multimedia data stream, and multimediadata processed by the second stand-alone device as a second multimediadata stream. The control circuitry 518 may, automatically or in responseto a user command, instruct the multiplexer to output only the firstmultimedia data stream. The control circuitry 518 may also instruct thecontrol circuitry to generate a picture-in-picture output by combiningone multimedia data stream with an overlay or side-by-side display ofanother multimedia data stream.

The control circuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device 502 isconfigured to receive a user selection of one of the set of multimediaapplications resident in memory 2102 from user input receiver 2108, andto determine the capabilities necessary to run the selected application.For example, the control circuitry 508 may compare the recommendedamount of random access memory (RAM) for running the selectedapplication to the amount of RAM present on the first stand-alone device502. Control circuitry 508 may also compare recommended video resolutionor other multimedia specifications of the selected application to thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device. Control circuitry 508 isalso further configured to detect the capabilities of the secondstand-alone device 504 and the multimedia applications resident inmemory 2106 of the second stand-alone device, for example by requestingthe configuration data and an application manifest of the secondstand-alone device 504 via a data request sent from data port 512 todata port 516, and receiving a list of capabilities from the secondstand-alone device 504 via a response from data port 516 to data port512. Control circuitry 508 may then compare the recommended amount ofRAM for running the selected application to the amount of RAM present onthe second stand-alone device 504, and may also compare the recommendedvideo resolution or other multimedia specifications of the selectedapplication to the capabilities of the second stand-alone device 504detailed in the received configuration data. Control circuitry 508 mayalso record the amount of time taken by the first stand-alone device 502to launch the selected application and store that information with theconfiguration data. Second stand-alone device 504 may also recordsimilar information. This may be accomplished by either device using acounter. Specifically, when the device received the launch command, acounter is initialized, and its value set at zero. The control circuitrythen increments the counter by one every millisecond until theapplication launch sequence is complete and the application is fullyrunning. Once the application is fully running, the control circuitrystops incrementing the counter and stores the value of the counter inthe configuration data as a representation of the amount of time, inmilliseconds, it took to launch the application. Alternatively, launchtimes may be stored, locally or remotely, in a database. Launch timesmay be calculated in advance based on the known available systemresources of each model of device and stored in a database, with entriesfor each known application for each known model of device. The controlcircuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device 502 may access thedatabase and look up its model and the model of the second stand-alonedevice to find the launch times for each device for the selectedapplication. Control circuitry 508 may then compare the launch time ofthe first stand-alone device 502 to the launch time of the secondstand-alone device 504, with a shorter launch time being preferable. Ifcontrol circuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device 502 determinesthrough these comparisons that the capabilities of the secondstand-alone device 504 are closer to or exceed the recommendedspecifications for running the selected application by a certainthreshold amount, or that the second stand-alone device has a shorterlaunch time for the selected application, and that the selectedapplication is resident in memory 2106 of the second stand-alone device,control circuitry 508 is configured to transmit a command via data port512 to the second stand-alone device 504 to launch the selectedapplication.

In the first stand-alone device, control circuitry 508 may also beconfigured to detect multimedia specifications of the multimediaapplication selected from the multimedia applications resident in memory2102, and process the multimedia signal to obtain multimedia datathereof if the multimedia specifications of the multimedia signal do notexceed the capabilities of the first stand-alone device 502. Forexample, control circuitry 508 may obtain data relating to themultimedia specifications of the multimedia signal from interactiveprogram guide data. Specifically, the interactive program guide data maybe configured to include multimedia specifications for each multimediaapplication. In response to user selection of a multimedia application,or a specific program available through a multimedia application, fromthe interactive program guide, control circuitry 508 may retrieve themultimedia specification information for the selected application fromthe interactive program guide data. Alternatively, control circuitry 508may access multimedia specifications located in a configuration file orheader file of the selected multimedia application. Control circuitry508 may also retrieve known multimedia specifications from a database.Specifically, control circuitry 508 may receive an applicationidentifier in response to a user selection of a program from theinteractive program guide. Control circuitry 508 may then access adatabase containing multimedia specifications for each application.Using the application identifier received from the interactive programguide, the control circuitry 508 may look up the identified applicationand retrieve the multimedia specifications for that application. Thedatabase may be stored locally within memory (e.g., storage 308), or maybe stored remotely, such as on an server (e.g., media guidance datasource 418).

Control circuitry 508 is further coupled to multimedia output 510 totransmit the multimedia data to the second stand-alone device 504, anddata port 512 to transmit a command to the second stand-alone device 504to output the multimedia data transmitted from multimedia output 510 tomultimedia input 514. If the multimedia specifications of the sourcemultimedia signal do exceed the capabilities of the first stand-alonedevice 502, the control circuitry 508 is further configured to foregolaunching of the selected multimedia application and transmit a commandto the second stand-alone device 504 to launch the selected multimediaapplication.

In the second stand-alone device, multimedia input 514 and data port 516are coupled to control circuitry 518. Control circuitry 518 is furthercoupled to multimedia output 520. Additionally, multimedia input 514 isdirectly coupled to multimedia output 520. If the second stand-alonedevice 504 receives a command at data port 516 from data port 512 of thefirst stand-alone device 502 to output multimedia data processed by thefirst stand-alone device 502 and transmitted from multimedia output 510to multimedia input 514, control circuitry 518 is configured to directmultimedia input 514 to transmit multimedia data directly to multimediaoutput 520.

The block diagram in FIG. 22 shows an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent disclosure wherein the multimedia specifications of themultimedia signal of the selected application exceed the capabilities ofthe first stand-alone device 502, or the second stand-alone device 504configuration is determined by the first stand-alone device 502 to bebetter suited to running the selected application. The first stand-alonedevice 502 receives at user input receiver 2104 a user selection of amultimedia application resident in memory 1602, or a selection of aparticular program from the interactive program guide that is availablethrough a multimedia application. Control circuitry 508 of the firststand-alone device 502 may make request 2202 for a configuration fileand application manifest from the second stand-alone device 504. Therequest 2202 is communicated to data port 512 and transmitted (2202 a)to data port 516. The request is further communicated (2202 b) from dataport 516 to control circuitry 518 of the second stand-alone device 504.Control circuitry 518 then issues a response 2204 including therequested data files and communicates the response to the data port 516.The response is transmitted (2204 a) from data port 516 to data port 512of the first stand-alone device 502. The response is furthercommunicated (2204 b) to the control circuitry 508 of the firststand-alone device. After making the comparisons described above betweenthe configuration and application manifest of the first stand-alonedevice and the configuration and application manifest of the secondstand-alone device, and between the multimedia specifications of theselected application and the multimedia capabilities of the first andsecond stand-alone devices, control circuitry 508 may determine that thesecond stand-alone device is more capable of running the selectedapplication. Control circuitry 508 then issues a command 2206 to thesecond stand-alone device 504 to launch the selected application and, ifa particular program was selected, to being streaming the selectedprogram immediately. The command is communicated to the data port 512where it is transmitted (2206 a) to the data port 516 of the secondstand-alone device, and further communicated (2206 b) from the data port516 to the control circuitry 518 of the second stand-alone device 504.Control circuitry 518 then launches the selected application from memory2106. The multimedia signal generated by the application is processed bycontrol circuitry 518 to obtain multimedia data thereof. The multimediadata is then transmitted to a display through multimedia output 520.

The block diagram in FIG. 23 shows another aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure wherein the multimedia specifications of themultimedia signal of the selected application does not exceed thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device 502, or the secondstand-alone device 504 configuration is determined by the firststand-alone device 502 to be better suited to running the selectedapplication. The first stand-alone device 502 receives at user inputreceiver 2104 a user selection of a multimedia application resident inmemory 2102. Control circuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device 502may make a request 2202 for a configuration file and applicationmanifest from the second stand-alone device 504. The request 2202 iscommunicated to data port 512 and transmitted (2202 a) to data port 516.The request is further communicated (2202 b) from data port 516 tocontrol circuitry 518 of the second stand-alone device 504. Controlcircuitry 518 then issues a response 2204 including the requested datafiles and communicates the response to the data port 516. The responseis transmitted (2204 a) from data port 516 to data port 512 of the firststand-alone device 502. The response is further communicated (2204 b) tothe control circuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device. After makingthe comparisons described above between the configuration andapplication manifest of the first stand-alone device and theconfiguration and application manifest of the second stand-alone device,and between the multimedia specifications of the selected applicationand the multimedia capabilities of the first and second stand-alonedevices, control circuitry 508 may determine that the first stand-alonedevice is more capable of running the selected application. Controlcircuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device 502 launches the selectedapplication from memory 2102. The multimedia signal generated by theselected application is processed by control circuitry 508 to obtainmultimedia data 2302. The multimedia data 2302 is transmitted frommultimedia output 510 to multimedia input 514. Control circuitry 508 ofthe first stand-alone device 502 also issues a command 2304 to thesecond stand-alone device 504 to output the multimedia data 2302received at multimedia input 514. The command 2304 is communicated todata port 512 where it is transmitted (2304 a) to data port 516 of thesecond stand-alone device 504. The command is further communication(2304 b) to control circuitry 518. In response to the command 2304,control circuitry 518 instructs multimedia input 514 to transmit thereceived multimedia data directly to multimedia output 520, where it isoutput to a display.

The flowchart in FIG. 24 describes the overall process 2400 of anembodiment of the present disclosure to output multimedia data. At step2402, the first stand-alone device retrieves the capabilities andtechnical specifications of the first stand-alone device and a listingof the multimedia applications resident in memory 2102. At step 2404,the first stand-alone device retrieves the capabilities and technicalspecifications of the second stand-alone device and a listing of themultimedia applications resident in memory 2106. Technicalspecifications may include available RAM, processor speed, and otherspecifications not relating to the multimedia capabilities of thedevice. At step 2406, the first stand-alone device receives a userselection associated with a multimedia application. This selection maybe received from a dedicated button on a user interface device, or froma selection made from the interactive program guide. For example, grid102 may include a row relating to a multimedia application. With a userinput device, a user can select the row by moving highlight region 110.Control circuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., controlcircuitry 508) then determines that the user selected a program listingfor a program that is available and delivered over the Internet from aserver of one of the multimedia applications. At step 2408, the controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)compares the listing of multimedia applications resident in memory 2102with the listing of multimedia applications resident in memory 2106 ofthe second stand-alone device. At step 2410, the control circuitry 508of the first stand-alone device 502 identifies, based on the comparisonmade in step 2408, which multimedia applications are common to bothmemory 2102 and memory 2106. At step 2412, the control circuitry 508determines whether the multimedia application associated with thereceived user selection is one of the identified common multimediaapplications. If the multimedia application associated with the receiveduser selection is one of the identified common multimedia applicationsthen, at step 2414, the control circuitry 508 proceeds to compare thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device with the capabilities ofthe second stand-alone device. This comparison is similar to thecomparison described above in relation to step 808 of FIG. 8, but inaddition to comparing multimedia capabilities, technical capabilitiesand time required to launch an application are also considered. To dothis, the control circuitry 508 requests the multimedia and technicalspecifications of the second stand-alone device and compares themultimedia and technical specifications obtained at step 1904 to ananalogous set of specifications for the first stand-alone device 502itself. The first stand-alone device 502 may contain a configurationfile (e.g., stored in storage 308) or other data detailing the maximumvalue for each multimedia property found in the multimediaspecifications, and each system property such as average launch time foreach application, available RAM, or available processing speed. Forexample, the control circuitry 508 may compare a value in theconfiguration data relating to video resolution to a video resolutionproperty of the multimedia signal found in the multimediaspecifications. If the value of the property found in the multimediaspecifications is higher than the value listed in the configurationdata, the control circuitry 508 will set a flag or Boolean value to notethat at least one property of the multimedia specifications exceeds thecapabilities of the first stand-alone device 502. Control circuitry 508may also make a similar comparison of system properties and may setflags or Boolean values noting if any system properties of the secondstand-alone device 504 exceed those of the first stand-alone device 502.Control circuitry may also make a similar comparison of the timerequired to launch the selected application on the first stand-alonedevice and the second stand-alone device and may set flags or Booleanvalues noting if the second stand-alone device launches the selectedapplication in less time than the first stand-alone device. At step2416, if, after comparing each property of the multimedia specificationsto the configuration data, any of the property values are higher thanthe maximum values found in the configuration data, or if, aftercomparing system properties of the first and second stand-alone devices,any of the property values of the second stand-alone device 504 arehigher than those of the first stand-alone device 502, or if, aftercomparing application launch times, the second stand-alone device isdetermined to be faster (i.e., any one of the Boolean values or flags istrue), the control circuitry 508 will proceed, at step 2418, to transmitan application launch command to the second stand-alone device. At step2420, the second stand-alone device launches the application in responseto receiving the launch command. At step 2428, multimedia data generatedby the multimedia application is then output by the second stand-alonedevice to a display.

If the control circuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device determinesat step 2416 that the multimedia and technical specifications of thesecond stand-alone device are not greater than those of the firststand-alone device for purposes of running the selected application(i.e., all the Boolean values or flags are false), or if the userselection is not associated with a one of the common multimediaapplications, then, at step 2422, the first stand-alone device 502launches the selected multimedia application. At step 2424, the firststand-alone device transmits the multimedia data generated by themultimedia application to the second stand-alone device. At step 2426,the first stand-alone device transmits a command to the secondstand-alone device to output the multimedia data received from the firststand-alone device. Finally, at step 2428, the second stand-alone deviceoutput the multimedia data to a display.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 24 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 25 describes a process 2500 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)for retrieving the capabilities of the first stand-alone device and alisting of multimedia applications resident in memory 2102. At step2502, control circuitry 508 may access a predefined memory location in amemory storage device (e.g., storage 308). The predefined memorylocation may contain a configuration file or other data structurecontaining data relating to the multimedia capabilities and systemresources of the first stand-alone device, as well as a manifest ofmultimedia applications installed in memory 2102. At step 2504, controlcircuitry 508 may retrieve the data stored in the predefined memorylocation. This can be accomplished in several ways. For example, controlcircuitry 508 may copy in its entirety the data stored in the predefinedmemory location, and store the copied data in a RAM buffer or othervolatile or non-volatile memory. However, the data stored in thepredefined memory location may include additional data that is notrelevant to the multimedia capabilities of the first stand-alone device.Control circuitry 508 may therefore parse the configuration data andextract only those data relevant to the multimedia capabilities of thefirst stand-alone device, such as maximum decodable video resolution,maximum decodable audio sampling rate, closed-captioning ability,subtitle ability, SAP processing ability, available RAM, availableprocessing speed, and recorded times required to launch each multimediaapplication.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 25 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 26 describes a process 2600 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)and the control circuitry of the second stand-alone device (e.g.,control circuitry 518) for retrieving capabilities of the secondstand-alone device and a listing of multimedia applications resident inmemory 2106. At step 2602, the control circuitry 508 of the firststand-alone device 502 generates a request (e.g., request 2202) forconfiguration data and an application manifest. At step 2604, therequest is communicated to the data port 512 and transmitted to thesecond stand-alone device to be received at data port 516 andcommunicated to control circuitry 518 of the second stand-alone device504. At step 2606, the control circuitry 518 may access a predefinedmemory location in a memory storage device (e.g., storage 308). Thepredefined memory location may contain a configuration file or otherdata structure containing data relating to the multimedia capabilitiesand system resources of the first stand-alone device, as well as amanifest of multimedia applications installed in memory 2106. Controlcircuitry 518 may retrieve the data stored in the predefined memorylocation. This can be accomplished in several ways. For example, controlcircuitry 518 may copy in its entirety the data stored in the predefinedmemory location, and store the copied data in a RAM buffer or othervolatile or non-volatile memory. However, the data stored in thepredefined memory location may include additional data that is notrelevant to the multimedia capabilities of the first stand-alone device.Control circuitry 518 may therefore parse the configuration data andextract only those data relevant to the multimedia capabilities of thefirst stand-alone device, such as maximum decodable video resolution,maximum decodable audio sampling rate, closed-captioning ability,subtitle ability, SAP processing ability, available RAM, availableprocessing speed, and recorded times required to launch each multimediaapplication. At step 2608, the retrieved capabilities and applicationlistings (e.g., response 2204) are communicated to the data port 516 andtransmitted to first stand-alone device 502 through data port 512, andfurther communicated to control circuitry 508.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 26 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 27 describes a process 2700 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)for receiving a user selection of a multimedia application. At step2702, the user input receiver 2104 detects a user input signal from auser input device. A user may make a selection using a remote control, acomputer, a smartphone, or any other user input device capable of send auser input signal to the user input receiver 2104. The user inputreceiver may receive user input signal using any suitable wirelesscommunication means such as RF, infrared, Bluetooth, and wi-fi, or anysuitable wired communication means such as a physical switch on theexterior of the first stand-alone device. A user may also use a physicaluser interface integrated into the first stand-alone device. The userselection command may contain an explicit reference to a specificapplication to launch, such as from a dedicated application button on aremote control, or may be a generic selection command, such as pressingan “OK” button while a certain multimedia application is highlighted inan interactive program guide. A generic selection command requiresadditional processing to associate a specific multimedia applicationwith the user selection. For example, the user may highlight Internetcontent listing 118 of grid 102, or one of selectable options 202associated with a particular multimedia application. Control circuitry508 may then associate the user selection with the multimediaapplication associated with the Internet content listing 118 or the oneof selectable options 202 to create a complete command sequence forlaunching the associated application. At step 2704, the user inputsignal is interpreted. This may be done by an interpreter module withinthe user input receiver 2104, or by the control circuitry 508. At step2706, the control circuitry 508 processes the interpreted signal todetermine whether the signal is associated with any of the multimediaapplications resident in memory 2102.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 27 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 28 describes a process 2800 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)for comparing the list of multimedia applications resident in memory2102 and the list of multimedia applications resident in memory 2106. Atstep 2802, the control circuitry 508 initializes a set of Booleanvariables corresponding to each of the multimedia applications residentin memory 2102. Each of the Boolean variables is initially set to FALSE.At step 2804, the control circuitry 508 steps through each multimediaapplication is the retrieved list of multimedia applications resident inmemory 2102. For each multimedia application, the control circuitry 508searches the listing of multimedia applications resident in memory 2106received from the second stand-alone device 504 for a corresponding listentry. If a corresponding list entry is found, then at step 2806 theBoolean variable corresponding to that multimedia application is set toTRUE.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 28 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 29 describes a process 2900 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)for identifying multimedia applications common to both memory 2102 andmemory 2106. At step 2902, control circuitry 508 complies all theBoolean variables initialized in step 2802 corresponding to eachmultimedia application resident in memory 2102. Control circuitry 508checks each Boolean variable. At step 2904, control circuitry generatesa listing of common multimedia applications by adding a list entry forany multimedia application whose corresponding Boolean variable is setto TRUE.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 29 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 30 describes a process 3000 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)for determining if the multimedia application associated with thereceived user selection is one of the common multimedia applications. Atstep 3002, control circuitry 508 compares the multimedia applicationassociated with the user selection with the generated list of commonmultimedia applications. At step 3004, control circuitry 508 determineswhether the multimedia application associated with the user selectionmatches any entry in the generated list of common multimediaapplications. If a common multimedia application was selected, controlcircuitry 508 proceeds to step 2414, described below with reference toFIG. 31. If a common multimedia application was not selected, controlcircuitry 508 proceeds to step 2422, described below with reference toFIG. 35.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 30 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 31 describes a process 3100 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)for comparing the capabilities of the first stand-alone device 502 andthe second stand-alone device 504. At step 3102, control circuitry 508initializes a set of Boolean variables, one for each property of themultimedia and technical specifications, and sets the value of eachvariable to FALSE. As an example, steps 3104 and 3106 compare therecorded amount of time taken by each device to launch the selectedmultimedia application and the available RAM on each device,respectively. To determine which device will launch the selectedmultimedia application faster, the control circuitry 508 of the firststand-alone device 502 may locate an entry in the configuration data forthe first stand-alone device 502 related to the selected multimediaapplication. Each time an application is launched, the device on whichthe launch is executed may record in its configuration data the timeelapsed from receipt of the launch command to the time the launchprocess completed. Control circuitry 508 will also locate an entry forthe selected multimedia application in the configuration data receivedfrom the second stand-alone device 504. The control circuitry 508 thencompares the two launch times to determine which device is faster forlaunching the selected multimedia application. If the second stand-alonedevice is faster, or has more available RAM than the first stand-alonedevice then, at step 3108, the value of the corresponding Booleanvariable is set to TRUE. This process is performed for each property ofthe multimedia and technical specifications relevant to the selectedmultimedia application.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 31 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 32 describes a process 3200 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)for determining whether the capabilities of the second stand-alonedevice are greater than the capabilities of the first stand-alonedevice. At step 3202, control circuitry 508 compiles the Booleanvariable initialized in step 3102. At step 3204, control circuitrychecks the value of each Boolean variable. If any one Boolean variableis found to have a value of TRUE, the second stand-alone device isdetermined to have greater capabilities for running the selectedapplication than the first stand-alone device, and control circuitry 508proceeds to step 2418, described below in relation to FIG. 33. If allthe Boolean variables have a value of FALSE, then the first stand-alonedevice capabilities meet or exceed the multimedia specifications of themultimedia data contained in the source multimedia signal, and controlcircuitry 508 proceeds to step 2422, discussed below in relation to FIG.35.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 32 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 33 describes a process 3300 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)for transmitting a command to the second stand-alone device to launchthe selected multimedia application. At step 3302, the control circuitry508 generates a command (e.g., command 2206) to launch the selectedmultimedia application. At step 3304, the command is communicated fromthe control circuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device 502 to thedata port 512 of the first stand-alone device 502. At step 3306, thecommand is transmitted from the data port 512 of the first stand-alonedevice 502 to the data port 516 of the second stand-alone device 504.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 33 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 34 describes a process 3400 implemented on controlcircuitry of the second stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 518)for launching the selected multimedia application on the secondstand-alone device and obtaining multimedia data to display. The launchcommand transmitted from the first stand-alone device 502 is received atthe data port 516 of the second stand-alone device 504 and iscommunicated to control circuitry 518 of the second stand-alone device504. At step 3402, in response to the command (e.g., command 2206),control circuitry 518 of the second stand-alone device 504 accesses amemory location within memory 2106 associated with the selectedmultimedia application. At step 3404, control circuitry 508 of thesecond stand-alone device 504 launches the selected multimediaapplication from the memory location within memory 2106. At step 3406,the multimedia signal generated by the selected multimedia applicationis then processed by the control circuitry 518 of the second stand-alonedevice 504 to obtain multimedia data.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 34 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 35 describes a process 3500 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)for launching the selected multimedia application on the firststand-alone device and obtaining multimedia data to display. At step3502, in response to a determination that the selected multimediaapplication is not one of the common multimedia applications and isresident only in memory 2102 of the first stand-alone device, or thatthe capabilities of the first stand-alone device are greater for runningthe selected multimedia application than the second stand-alone device,the control circuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device 502 accesses amemory location within memory 2012 associated with the selectedmultimedia application. At step 3504, control circuitry 508 launches theselected multimedia application from the memory location within memory2102. Control circuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device 502 thenprocesses the multimedia signal generated by the selected multimediaapplication to obtain multimedia data.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 35 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 36 describes a process 3600 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)for transmitting multimedia data obtained from the multimedia signalgenerated by the selected multimedia application to the secondstand-alone device 504 for output. At step 3602, the control circuitry508 of the first stand-alone device 502 communicates the multimedia data(e.g., multimedia data 2302) to multimedia output 510. At step 3604, themultimedia data 2302 is transmitted from multimedia output 510 of thefirst stand-alone device 502 to multimedia input 514 of the secondstand-alone device 504.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 36 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 37 describes a process 3700 implemented on controlcircuitry of the first stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 508)for transmitting a command to the second stand-alone device 504 tooutput the multimedia data received from first stand-alone device 502.At step 3702, control circuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device 502generates an output command (e.g., command 2304). At step 3704, thecommand 2304 is communicated to the data port 512 of the firststand-alone device 502 and, at step 3706, transmitted from data port 512to data port 516 of the second stand-alone device 504. The command 2304is further communicated to control circuitry 518 of the secondstand-alone device 504.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 37 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

The flowchart in FIG. 38 describes a process 3800 implemented on controlcircuitry of the second stand-alone device (e.g., control circuitry 518)for outputting multimedia data. At step 3802, in response to the command2304, control circuitry 518 of the second stand-alone device 504instructs multimedia input 514 to communicate the multimedia data 2302processed by and transmitted from the first stand-alone device 502directly to multimedia output 520. Alternatively, if the secondstand-alone device 504 received an application launch command, then themultimedia data processed by control circuitry 518 of the secondstand-alone device 504 is communicated to multimedia output 520.Finally, at step 3804, the multimedia data is output from multimediaoutput 520 to a display.

Any of these steps described above with relation to FIG. 38 are optionaland may be performed in any order or in parallel.

As an example, a user may wish to watch videos from Netflix® on theirtelevision. The user may navigate to an app store to download theNetflix® application to their set-top box or second stand-alone device.Once downloaded, the device may install the application automatically,or require the user to approve the installation. Alternatively, theNetflix® application may be preinstalled on either device by themanufacturer. As part of the application installation process, thedevice may add an entry to its configuration data for the Netflix®application. Under this entry, the device may record the memory locationto which the Netflix® application was installed. The installationprocess may also integrate the Netflix® program library with theinteractive program guide, allowing the user to view listings ofprograms available on Netflix® along with programs received from theuser's cable or satellite television provider. Installation of theNetflix® application may also add a selectable GUI element to theinteractive program guide allowing the user to launch the Netflix®application without selecting a particular program. If the user selectsthis GUI element, the selection is interpreted by the control circuitryas a launch command for the Netflix® application. Before launching theapplication, the control circuitry determines which device is morecapable of running the application, by first detecting whether theapplication is installed on both devices, and if so by then comparingthe specifications of each device against the specifications of theapplication. The launch command is then processed by whichever device isdetermined to be more capable. The control circuitry of the determineddevice accesses the memory location specified in the configuration dataduring installation. From that memory location, the control circuitrylaunches the application, which begins running. If the user selects aparticular program on Netflix® from the interactive program guide, theselection is interpreted by the control circuitry as a launch commandfor the Netflix® application with an intent to play the selectedprogram. The control circuitry of the determined device accesses thememory location specified in the configuration data during installation.From that memory location, the control circuitry launches theapplication, which begins running. Once the control circuitry detectsthat the application launch sequence successfully completed and theapplication is running, it passes the intent portion of the command tothe Netflix® application, which the Netflix® application may interpretas a command to access and immediately begin playing the selectedprogram. If the determined device is the set-top box, the multimediadata of the program is sent to the second device for output. The seconddevice sends the multimedia data, whether received from the set-top box,or processed by the second device, to the television.

In another embodiment, multimedia data from the first stand-alone device502 may be combined with multimedia data received by second stand-alonedevice 504 from another source. For example, a user may wish to view apicture-in-picture (PIP) display comprising one program processed by thefirst stand-alone device 502 and another program processed by the secondstand-alone device 504. The control circuitry 518 of the secondstand-alone device may be configured to combine the multimedia datareceived from the first stand-alone device 502 into a main window of thePIP display, and multimedia data processed by the second stand-alonedevice 504 into a secondary window of the PIP display, or vice versa. Asanother example, a user may be viewing a program processed by onestand-alone device and wish to view the interactive program guideresident on another stand-alone device. Second stand-alone device 504may be configured to combine the multimedia data of the program into asecondary window of the PIP display while processing the interactiveprogram guide into a main window of the PIP display. In FIG. 39, firststand-alone device 502 may receive a multimedia signal 602 at multimediainput 506. Control circuitry 508 may process the multimedia signal toobtain multimedia data and communicate the multimedia data to multimediaoutput 510. Multimedia data is transmitted from multimedia output 510 ofthe first stand-alone device 502 to multimedia input 514 of secondstand-alone device 504.

Second stand-alone device 504 may receive another multimedia signal 3904from a source other than first stand-alone device 502. For example,second stand-alone device 504 may receive a multimedia signal 3904 froma multimedia application resident in memory 2106. Control circuitry 518may process the second multimedia signal to obtain multimedia data. Toaccomplish mixing, control circuitry 518 may include a video multiplexeror other video editing module to combine the multimedia data from thetwo multimedia signals into a single simultaneous output, such aspicture-in-picture. Multimedia data received at multimedia input 514 andmultimedia data processed by control circuitry 518 are then furtherprocessed together by the video editing module to create combinedmultimedia data 3906 for output from multimedia output 520 to a display3902.

In some embodiments, the second stand-alone device 502 may be able toprocess multiple source multimedia signals simultaneously. For example,control circuitry 518 may include more than one processor or amulti-core processor such as an Intel® Core™2 Duo processor or Intel®Core™ i7-7740X Quad Core processor. First stand-alone device 502 mayreceive a multimedia signal with specifications exceeding thecapabilities of first stand-alone device 502. As described above, firststand-alone device 502 may pass the unprocessed multimedia signal 604,as shown in FIG. 40, or processed multimedia data 702, as show in FIG.41, to second stand-alone device 504. Second stand-alone device 504 mayalso receive a multimedia signal 3904 from a multimedia applicationresident in memory 2106. Control circuitry 518 may then process bothsignals simultaneously to obtain multimedia data for each signal andthen combine them to create a combined multimedia data output 3906 fordisplay.

In some embodiments, the interactive program guide may reside on thesecond stand-alone device 504. User input for navigating the interactiveprogram guide may be received by the second stand-alone device 504. Inresponse to user selection of a program received at the multimedia input506 of the first stand-alone device 504, the control circuitry 518 ofthe second stand-alone device may transmit a command via data port 516to data port 512 of the first stand-alone device 502 to access theselected program. Alternatively, user input for navigating theinteractive program guide may be received by the first stand-alonedevice 502 and relayed from data port 512 to data port 516 of the secondstand-alone device.

As discussed above, the second stand-alone device 504 may also output aPIP display of multimedia data from more than one source multimediasignal simultaneously using a multiplexer or other video editing module.The multiplexer may be part of control circuitry 518 or multimediaoutput 520, or may be a separate component, and may be implemented insoftware, firmware, or hardware. Thus, the second stand-alone device mayoutput for display multimedia data of, for example, an interactiveprogram guide output from the first stand-alone device and a streamingprogram from an Internet streaming multimedia application at the sametime. The user may, using a user interface device, control which signalis displayed in the main display and which signal is display in the PIPdisplay, as described above. A PIP display may be an inset displayoverlaid on a main display. A user may choose a position of the PIPinset display using a user interface device. Alternatively, a PIPdisplay may be side-by-side with a main display in either a verticallyor horizontally split screen. A user may choose, using a user interfacedevice, which signal is displayed in the main display, and which signalis displayed in the PIP display.

In some embodiments, second stand-alone device 504 may include othermodules not included in FIGS. 5-7 or FIGS. 21-23. For example, secondstand-alone device 504 may include a microphone, a video camera, a voicerecognition module, or a telephone connection. Some applications mayrequire the use of a microphone or a video camera, such as a videoconferencing or other telephonic application. Some applications mayallow users to search for content or give commands verbally if a voicerecognition module is present. Some applications, such as multiplayergames, may use a microphone for interplayer communications. Any of thesemay be present on the second stand-alone device 504.

In some embodiments, the first stand-alone device 502 may receive a userselection of an application requiring the use of one of the moduleslisted above, but capabilities of the first stand-alone device areotherwise determined to be sufficient for running the selectedapplication. Control circuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device 502may be configured to transmit a command from data port 512 to data port516 of the second stand-alone device 504 instructing the secondstand-alone device 504 to activate the required module and transmit datareceived by the required module, such as voice or images capturedthereby, to the first stand-alone device 502 via data port 516.

In some embodiments, second stand-alone device 504 receives voicecommands from a user via a voice recognition module. The received voicecommands may be directed to functions of the first stand-alone device502 or the second stand-alone device 504. The voice recognition modulemay be activated using a dedicated button on a user interface device(e.g., a dedicated VOICE button on a remote control associated withfirst stand-alone device 502, or second stand-alone device 504).Alternatively, the voice recognition module may always be active, and beresponsive to a specific “wake” command spoken by the user. In otherwords, the voice recognition module is in a sleep mode and the user mustspeak a specific word in order to wake the voice recognition module toprocess any other commands. Once activated or woken, the voicerecognition module may remain active for a certain period of time. If noverbal commands are received by the voice recognition module within thattime, the module may deactivate or return to a sleep mode. If a verbalcommand is given, the voice recognition module may immediatelydeactivate or return to sleep mode. Control circuitry 518 of the secondstand-alone device 504 may be configured to process the voice commandreceived at the voice recognition module and generate a correspondingcommand. If the received command is directed to functions of the firststand-alone device 502, control circuitry 518 of the second stand-alonedevice 504 may transmit the generated corresponding command from dataport 516 to data port 512 of the first stand-alone device 502. Forexample, the user may say “Channel Up” and the voice recognition moduleinterprets that verbal command as a command to change the currentlytuned channel on the first stand-alone device to the channel whosechannel number is one above the channel number of the currently tunedchannel. Control circuitry 518 of the second stand-alone device 504 maythen relay this command to the first stand-alone device 502 via dataport 512. Control circuitry 508 of the first stand-alone device 502 maybe configured to receive this command and process it as though it werereceived at user input receiver 2104. If the received command isdirected to functions of the second stand-alone device 504, controlcircuitry 518 may be configured to process the generated correspondingcommand as though it were received at user input receiver 2108.

The processes described above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of theprocesses discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure ismeant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow aremeant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in an one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted, the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to,or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

1. (canceled)
 2. A method for displaying a multimedia signal, the methodcomprising: receiving, at a first stand-alone device having a first setof capabilities, a first multimedia input, a first multimedia output, adata output, and a user input device with a dedicated button associatedwith a customizable function that is customized to operate the secondstand-alone device, a source multimedia signal at the first multimediainput, the source multimedia signal containing multimedia data andhaving a set of multimedia specifications; retrieving, by the firststand-alone device, the first set of capabilities from a storage deviceof the first stand-alone device; detecting, by the first stand-alonedevice, the set of multimedia specifications of the multimedia datacontained in the source multimedia signal; comparing, by the firststand-alone device, the retrieved first set of capabilities with thedetected set of multimedia specifications; determining, by the firststand-alone device, based on the comparison, whether the set ofmultimedia specifications exceeds the first set of capabilities of thefirst stand-alone device; and in response to determining that the set ofmultimedia specifications exceeds the first set of capabilities of thefirst stand-alone device: transmitting the source multimedia signal fromthe first stand-alone device to a second stand-alone device, coupled tothe first stand-alone device and to a display, having a second set ofcapabilities different from the first set of capabilities and having asecond multimedia input, a second multimedia output, and a data input,wherein the second set of capabilities includes voice recognitionenabled by a voice recognition module; and transmitting a first commandto process the multimedia signal from the first stand-alone device tothe second stand-alone device; and in response to determining that theset of multimedia specifications does not exceed the first set ofcapabilities of the first stand-alone device: processing the sourcemultimedia signal with the first stand-alone device to obtain themultimedia data of the source multimedia signal; transmitting from thefirst stand-alone device to the second stand-alone device the multimediadata; and transmitting from the first stand-alone device to the secondstand-alone device a second command to output to the display themultimedia data of the source multimedia signal processed by the firststand-alone device; selectively outputting to the display from thesecond stand-alone device the multimedia data of the source multimediasignal processed by the second stand-alone device and the multimediadata of the source multimedia signal received from the first stand-alonedevice based on commands received by the second stand-alone device fromthe first stand-alone device; receiving with the first stand-alonedevice a user selection of the dedicated button; and in response toreceiving the user selection of the dedicated button, the firststand-alone device interprets a command associated with the customizablefunction and relays the interpreted command to the second stand-alonedevice from the data output of the first stand-alone device to the datainput of the second stand-alone device, wherein the interpreted commandcomprises a voice command function, and wherein the voice recognitionmodule of the second stand-alone device is activated in response toreceiving the interpreted command.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein:the first stand-alone device is a set-top box; the second stand-alonedevice is external to the first stand-alone device; the firststand-alone device is connected, via the first multimedia output and thedata output, to the second stand-alone device, via the second multimediainput and the data input; the first multimedia output and the dataoutput comprise a first HDMI connector; the second multimedia input andthe data input comprise a second HDMI connector; the second multimediaoutput comprises a third HDMI connector; the second stand-alone deviceis connected to the display via the third HDMI connector; selectivelyoutputting from the second stand-alone device the multimedia data of thesource multimedia signal processed by the second stand-alone devicecomprises coupling the second multimedia output with the multimedia dataprocessed by the second stand-alone device; and selectively outputtingfrom the second stand-alone device the multimedia data received from thefirst stand-alone device comprises coupling the second multimedia outputwith the second multimedia input.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein thesecond set of capabilities comprises a capability selected from thegroup consisting of a higher maximum decodable video resolution than thefirst set of capabilities, a higher maximum decodable audio samplingrate than the first set of capabilities; a network connection, voicerecognition, and a decoder engine that is not available to the firststand-alone device.
 5. (canceled)
 6. (canceled)
 7. The method of claim2, wherein the first stand-alone device transmits the source multimediasignal and the first command to the second stand-alone device from thedata output of the first stand-alone device to the data input of thesecond stand-alone device.
 8. The method of claim 2 further comprisingselectively combining at the second stand-alone device the multimediadata of the source multimedia signal with multimedia data from a secondmultimedia signal to generate a combined multimedia data output from thesecond multimedia output of the second stand-alone device.
 9. The methodof claim 8, wherein the multimedia data of the source multimedia signalcomprises a first video having a first quality and the multimedia datafrom the second multimedia signal comprises second video having a secondquality, and wherein the combined multimedia data output comprises apicture-in-picture display such that the second video is overlaid on topof the first video in a video window.
 10. The method of claim 2, whereinthe second stand-alone device comprises a video decoding engine toprocess the source multimedia signal, wherein the video decoding engineoutputs a processed video signal to a first input of a multiplexercircuit of the second stand-alone device, wherein the multiplexercircuit is configured to receive at a second input the multimedia dataof the source multimedia signal processed by the first stand-alonedevice, and wherein an output of the multiplexer circuit is provided tothe second multimedia output of the second stand-alone device.
 11. Themethod of claim 10 wherein the selectively outputting comprisestransmitting an instruction to the multiplexer circuit to select one ofthe first and second inputs of the multiplexer circuit for coupling tothe output of the multiplexer circuit.
 12. A system for displaying amultimedia signal, the system comprising: a first stand-alone devicehaving a first set of capabilities, a first multimedia input, a firstmultimedia output, a data output, and a user input device with adedicated button associated with a customizable function that iscustomized to operate the second stand-alone device, the firststand-alone device receiving at the first multimedia input a sourcemultimedia signal containing multimedia stat and having a set ofmultimedia specifications, wherein the first stand-alone device iscoupled to a second stand-alone device; wherein the second stand-alonedevice is further coupled to a display, and has a second set ofcapabilities different from the first set of capabilities, a secondmultimedia input, a second multimedia output and a data input, whereinthe second set of capabilities includes voice recognition enabled by avoice recognition module, and wherein: the first stand-alone devicecomprises control circuitry configured to: retrieve the first set ofcapabilities from a storage device of the first stand-alone device;detect the set of multimedia specifications of the multimedia datacontained in the source multimedia signal; compare the retrieved firstset of capabilities with the detected set of multimedia specifications;determine, based on the comparison, whether the set of multimediaspecifications exceeds the first set of capabilities of the firststand-alone device; and in response to determining that the set ofmultimedia specifications exceeds the first set of capabilities of thefirst stand-alone device: transmit the source multimedia signal from thefirst stand-alone device to the second stand-alone device; and transmita first command to process the multimedia signal from the firststand-alone device to the second stand-alone device; and in response todetermining that the set of multimedia specifications does not exceedthe first set of capabilities of the first stand-alone device: processthe source multimedia signal with the first stand-alone device to obtainthe multimedia data of the source multimedia signal; transmit from thefirst stand-alone device to the second stand-alone device the multimediadata; and transmit from the first stand-alone device to the secondstand-alone device a second command to output to the display themultimedia data of the source multimedia signal processed by the firststand-alone device; selectively output to the display from the secondstand-alone device the multimedia data of the source multimedia signalprocessed by the second stand-alone device and the multimedia data ofthe source multimedia signal received from the first stand-alone devicebased on commands received by the second stand-alone device from thefirst stand-alone device; receive a user selection of the dedicatedbutton; and in response to receiving the user selection of the dedicatedbutton, interpret a command associated with the customizable functionand relay the interpreted command to the second stand-alone device fromthe data output of the first stand-alone device to the data input of thesecond stand-alone device, wherein the interpreted command comprises avoice command function, and wherein the voice recognition module of thesecond stand-alone device is activated in response to receiving theinterpreted command.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein: the firststand-alone device is a set-top box; the second stand-alone device isexternal to the first stand-alone device; the first stand-alone deviceis connected, via the first multimedia output and the data output, tothe second stand-alone device, via the second multimedia input and thedata input; the first multimedia output and the data output comprise afirst HDMI connector; the second multimedia input and the data inputcomprise a second HDMI connector; the second multimedia output comprisesa third HDMI connector; the second stand-alone device is connected tothe display via the third HDMI connector; the control circuitry isconfigured to selectively output from the second stand-alone device themultimedia data of the source multimedia signal processed by the secondstand-alone device by coupling the second multimedia output with themultimedia data processed by the second stand-alone device; and thecontrol circuitry is configured to selectively output from the secondstand-alone device the multimedia data received from the firststand-alone device by coupling the second multimedia output with thesecond multimedia input.
 14. The system of claim 12, wherein the secondset of capabilities comprises a capability selected from the groupconsisting of a higher maximum decodable video resolution than the firstset of capabilities, a higher maximum decodable audio sampling rate thanthe first set of capabilities; a network connection, voice recognition,and a decoder engine that is not available to the first stand-alonedevice.
 15. (canceled)
 16. (canceled)
 17. The system of claim 12,wherein the first stand-alone device transmits the source multimediasignal and the first command to the second stand-alone device from thedata output of the first stand-alone device to the data input of thesecond stand-alone device.
 18. The system of claim 12 wherein the secondstand-alone device comprises control circuitry configure to selectivelycombine the multimedia data of the source multimedia signal withmultimedia data from a second multimedia signal to generate a combinedmultimedia data output from the second multimedia output of the secondstand-alone device.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the multimediadata of the source multimedia signal comprises a first video having afirst quality and the multimedia data from the second multimedia signalcomprises second video having a second quality, and wherein the combinedmultimedia data output comprises a picture-in-picture display such thatthe second video is overlaid on top of the first video in a videowindow.
 20. The system of claim 12, wherein the second stand-alonedevice comprises a video decoding engine to process the sourcemultimedia signal, wherein the video decoding engine outputs a processedvideo signal to a first input of a multiplexer circuit of the secondstand-alone device, wherein the multiplexer circuit is configured toreceive at a second input the multimedia data of the source multimediasignal processed by the first stand-alone device, and wherein an outputof the multiplexer circuit is provided to the second multimedia outputof the second stand-alone device.
 21. The system of claim 20 wherein thecontrol circuitry is configured to selectively output by transmitting aninstruction to the multiplexer circuit to select one of the first andsecond inputs of the multiplexer circuit for coupling to the output ofthe multiplexer circuit. 22.-51. (canceled)